Shoe-machine.



F. M. FURBER.

Patented Aug. 14, 1917.

2 SHEETS SHEET 1.

WTA/[SSZS M. FURBER.

SHOE MAC APPLICATION man .1 1914 36,422. Patented Aug. 14,1917. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

-T ETE STATES PATENT @FFEQE.

FREDERICK M. FURBER, OF REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEXV JERSEY.

SHOE-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14., 1917'.

Application filed December 7, 1914. Seria1 No. 875,848.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. FURBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Revere, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Shoe-Machines, of whichthe following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to machines for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes, and particularly to machines for applying blacking, stain or other material, hereinafter referred to generically as blacking, to portions of a shoe such, for example, as the edges of the heel and the sole. A machine of this character is shown and described in my prior Patent No. 1,025,523, granted May 7, 1912, this machine including a rotary work guide which serves to position the work and to protect portions thereof from contact with the blacking applying means. In the specific construction shown insaid patent this guide is intended torun in the rand crease of the shoe and has the additional function of applying blacking to the rand.

An object of the present invention is to improve the construction of the work guiding means in machines of the character above referred to, and particularly to effect improvements in the work guide of my prior machine to the end that the machlne may be constructed more economically and may be more durable and satisfactory use.

The invention will be more fully explained in the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 shows in elevation a portion of the machine of -my prior patent with the improvements of the present invention embodied therein,

Fig. 2 shows in detail the construction of the improved work guiding means, and

Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive illustrate steps of the preferred method of making the work guide. 1

Such features of the illustrative machine as it is necessary to refer to for an understanding of this invention may be briefly described with reference to Fig. 1. The r0- tary shaft 2 carries at one end the work guide a which is generally concave or bowl shaped and is formed at its edge to provide a lip to enter the rand crease of the shoe when a shoe, as a, is presented as shown in position to be operated upon. The face 6 of the guide, which engages the rand, is preferably formed, as shown, on a raised portion of the lateral face at the edge of the guide, and this face receives blacking or the like from a rotary transferring disk 8 which dips within the blacking in a receptacle l0 and runs closely adjacent to the face 6. The guide 1: thus serves not only as work positioning means but also as means for blacking the rand. A brush 12 rotates in contact with a portion of the concave face of the guide a, receiving from the guide blacking deposited thereon by the disk 8 and applying it to the edges of the heel or the sole simultaneously with the application of blacking to the rand directly from the guide. In order that the guide may be supplied with blacking from the disk 8 effectively and uniformly, it is necessary that the guide shall rotate truly with the surface of its margin at the concave side at a uniform distance from the side of the disk. This requires that the guide be formed with accuracy and precision.

It has been the practice heretofore to form the guide 4, together with a hub portion for mounting the guide on the shaft, as a single casting, and then by the use of suitable tools to true up the casting to secure the accurate form required. Since the lateral surface of the guide which engages the brush 12 and the opposite lateral surface which engages the upper of the shoe should must be replaced from time to time, has

been heretofore comparatively large.

According to the present invention, the guide 4; is formed ofsheet metal of the required thickness provided with a central opening and secured in position with one of its faces in engagement with the end of a hub 14 mounted on the operating shaft 2.

In the construction illustrated this hub is formed as a separate member and is recessed to provide an annular member having a position controlling face 15. The securing means comprises a clamping member 16 having a centering projection 17 entering the opening of the guide and the recess in the hub, together with a screw 18 which entersthe end of the shaft, as shown in detail in Fig. 2. The preferred method of making the guide is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive. A flat circular disk of the form shown in Fig. 3 is preferably first cut from the metal sheet, this disk having a diameter slightly greater than the required diameter of the rand guide. This disk is then pressed between cooperating dies 20 and 22 to give it the required concave form, preferably with a central flat portion I), as shown in Fig. 4:, a rod 24: projecting through the central opening of the disk and serving to hold it true durmg the pressing operation. The next step of the preferred method of procedure is to machine the central opening in the disk, as illustrated in Fig. 5, which shows the disk mounted between the jaws 26 of a rotating chuck, the axis of rotation of the disk thus being determined with reference to its peripheral edge, while the opening is cut in concentric relation to this axis by means of a tool 28. The disk is then mounted upon a reciprocating magnetic chuck 30, Fig. 6, in a plane determined by the surface of its marginal portion at the concave side, and by means of an emery wheel 32 the central portion of the opposite face or flat portion of the disk is ground or machined in parallel relation to said plane. The disk is then finally mounted upon an arbor 34, Fig. 7, so as to rotate about the axis of the machined central opening and in a plane de termined by its machined side face, and by means of a tool 36 the margin at the concave side is machined to form the face 6 in parallel relation to the plane of rotation and to true the margin with reference to said plane. lVhile the disk is mounted upon the arbor its edge also may, if required, be trued with reference to its axis of rotation.

It will be evident that the amount of machine work involved in the above described process of manufacture is comparatively small. The greater portion of each of the lateral faces of the disk requires no machining, since the surface of the sheet metal is suitable for contact with the brush 12 and with the shoe upper, although it is preferable to smooth the surface slightly with emery so as to insure its freedom from undue roughness.

A further important practical advantage of the guide constructed as above described arises from the fact that the disk retains upon a large portion of its surface the whole or a large part of the original scale of the sheet metal. In the use of the machine with fluids such as shoe blacking, it has been found that unless great care is exercised the fluid is likely to corrode the surface of the rand guide, and this is true of both sides of the guide since more or less fluid works over upon its outer or convex surface. The surface of the sheet metal, retaining all or portions of the scale thereon, I have found to be much more resistant to the corrosive action of the fluids, as well as to ordinary rust, than is a machined metal surface. The rand guide constructed as described, therefore, is much more durable, as well as less expensive, and needs to be replaced less frequently than guides constructed in accordance with previous practices.

It should be understood that the novel method of making the disk need not be carried out in a series of steps of the precise character illustrated or in the precise order of the figures of the drawings. As a matter of choice, for example, the disk may or may not be cut from sheet metal in the form shown in Fig. 3 prior to the step of pressing or forming the disk; and certain steps, such as that of Fig. 5 or thatof Fig. 6, may not be required under all conditions.

The terms machining and machined, as used herein, are to be broadly construed without reference to any particular tool whereby portions of the disk may be formed; and the term concave as applied to the disk is not intended to limit the invention to the precise form shown but to comprehend various forms in which the sheet metal may be pressed, presenting the general characteristic of a hollow at one side and a complementary form at the opposite side of the disk.

hen the work guide is mounted upon the shaft as shown in Fig. 2 its machined central face, formed preferably, as previously explained, upon a fiat central portion of the disk, is in contact with the end of the hub 14, which may or may not comprise a member formed separately from the shaft, this arrangement determining the plane of rotation of the disk in perpendicular relation to the axis of the shaft; and since the edge portion 6 is machined, as previously explained, in parallel relation to the plane of the central portion, this edge will rotate truly and at a uniform distance from the side of the disk 8. It will readily be seen that if a hub, of the general type shown in Fig. 7, were used for securing the work guide there would be a strong likelihood that dirt would lodge in the corner 35 which would prevent the central flat portion of the work guide from contacting with the work positioning face of the hub throughout its whole circumference. By means of the particular construction employed, however, as illustrated in Fig. 2, no such opportunity is presented for the lodgment of dirt between the position controlling face 15 and the flat central portion of the work guide 4. Because of the necessity for rotating the guide in accurate relation to the transferring disk 8, this arrangement is of considerable practical importance.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In machine for operating on shoes, the combination with a rotary shaft, of a hub on the shaft, a work guide comprising a concave sheet metal disk having parallel position controlling; and work guiding faces, said work guiding face comprising a machined portion adjacent to the periphery of the vdis: at its concave side and the position controlling face comprising a machined portion adjacent to the center of the disk, and means for securing the disk on the shaft with said central machined face in contact with the hub.

2. In a machine for operating on shoes, a work guide comprising a concave sheet metal disk having that portion of its lateral face adjacent to the periphery at the concave side of the disk machined to cause said portion to maintain a true plane of rotation, the remainder of said face of the disk retaining surface scale of the sheet metal thereon.

3. In a machine for operating on shoes, a work guide comprising a concave sheet metal disk having that portion of its lateral face adjacent to the periphery at the concave side of the disk machined to lie in a true plane and the central portion of its opposite face machined in parallel relation to the plane of said first named machined portion, other parts of said lateral faces retaining surface scale of the sheet metal thereon.

4. In a machine for operating on shoes, the combination with a rotary shaft, of a work guide comprising a concave sheet metal disk having a central flat portion and a central opening, said disk having a portion of its lateral face adjacent to the periphery at its concave side machined to present a surface parallel to said flat portion, and, means for securing the disk on the shaft for rotation in a plane determined by said flat portion.

5. In a machine of the class described, a rand guiding and blacking device formed of sheet metal and having an edge portion machined for engagement with the rand of a .shoe, other portions of said device subject to contact with the blacking retaining surface scale of the metal thereon in order to resist corrosion by the blacking.

6. In a machine of the class described, a rotatable rand guiding and blacking device formed of sheet metal and having a portion adjacent to its periphery machined smooth for rotation in a true plane in engagement with the rand of a shoe, other portions of said device subject to contact with the blacking retaining surface scale of the metal thereon in order to resist corrosion by the blacking.

7 In a machine of the class described, the combination with a brush for applying blacking to the heel of a shoe, of a rand guide formed of sheet metal and having a lateral face arranged for engagement with the brush to transfer blacking to the brush, said guide having a portion adjacent to its edge machined for engagement with the rand and retaining surface scale of the metal upon other portions of said face in order to resist corrosion by the blacking.

8. In a machine for operating on shoes, the combination with a rotary shaft, of a hub on the shaft, a work guide comprising an apertured concave sheet metal disk having related position controlling and work guiding faces, the position cont-rolling face comprising a flat portion adjacent to the center of the disk, said hub being recessed at its'outer end to form an annularmember having a position controlling face and means for securing the disk on the shaft with said flat portion in contact with the position controlling face comprising means having a projecting portion entering the opening of the disk and the recess in the hub to center the disk on the hub.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK M. FURBER. lVitnesses CHESTER E. Rosnns, E. MARION BLACK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

